Interview: Victoria Clark Returns to Her PIAZZA Past at Pace University, Preps for GIGI at the Kennedy Center and More!

Before Victoria Clark returns to Broadway next season as 'Mamita Alvarez' in Gigi, she heads back to school as the artist in residence at Pace University. Clark directs THE LIGHT IN THE PIAZZA, the show for which she picked up a Tony Award in 2005, running through November 8 at the Loretto Theatre at The Sheen Center.

The Light in the Piazza, by Adam Guettel and Craig Lucas, is based on the novella of the same name by Elizabeth Spencer. Taking place in Italy in the late summer of 1953, it is the story of an American woman Margaret Johnson, who travels to Florence with her daughter Clara, who falls in love with a young Florentine man. As details emerge about Clara's past, their trip turns out to be very much a romantic and psychological journey as Margaret must decide what is best for her daughter, her family, and for herself. The winner of six Tony Awards in 2005, The Light in the Piazza has become one of the great classics of the American Musical Theater, with its lush score and cliff-hanger story.

Clark took the time out of her busy schedule to update BroadwayWorld on her adventures in directing, revisiting PIAZZA, preparing for GIGI and more. Check out the full interview below!

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I know that directing is far from foreign to you, though most people know you for your onstage work...

From the very beginning of my career I was directing! I was actually in a musical theatre writing program at NYU. There was one year when the very first cycle of writers was Winnie Holzman, George Wolfe, Robert Friedman, and Steven Lutvak- it was an amazing group of people. I had just graduated from Yale and that's where I saw myself. I had directed at Yale as an undergrad and I wanted to be Jonathan Miller or Hal Prince. I actually wanted to be an avant-garde opera director. So I got into the program as a director and it was five guys- George Wolfe wrote and directed. Can you even imagine being in class with George before he was really 'George'? I mean, he was George, but he was becoming 'George' and it was stunning. We were all babies. It was a fantastic group of people.

So seven directors came in and I was just 22 and I wanted to be Hal Prince. No one wanted to work with me because I was so young and that was the early 80s when there weren't that many women directing. Tina Landau was still an undergrad at Yale and Susan Schulman was out and about. There were like three people. It wasn't like people weren't doing it, but in the generation that was just above me, there weren't many women.

So how did you make the transition to acting?

The composers were writing stuff that was difficult to sing and they couldn't sing it, so I would say, "Well just give it to me and I'll sing it!" I was presenting their material a lot everywhere. So casting directors would come in and watch us present the material and then they would hire real actors to do the readings of these works. They were all quite complicated and funny, and maybe even overwritten. They weren't easy to perform either, I might add! They were crazy with ranges of three octaves. I didn't know, but I guess I was giving the audition of my life. Every time I got up there I was doing a 60-year-old handmaiden and an ingénue and every part that you could possibly imagine.

Ira Weissman was a casting director and he and John Lyons saw me do some of these things and they said, "Guess what, you might be a director, but what I see right now is that you are very much an actor. You have the soul of an actor, you have the joy of an actor, and it comes to you quite easily. I'm gonna make you audition for things because I think that you will be good." He was in the middle of casting SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE, and of course I had acted in college and high school. I loved acting, but I didn't think I was good enough to work as an actor so I had totally taken that off of my plate.

He set up an audition for that and I ended up being a replacement. I was a baby. I think it was my second equity job. It was one of those weird things when you're in your 20s and in New York. I had gone to Yale but I had grown up in Texas. My first few years in New York I was terrified. I couldn't even go to Fairway because I was afraid I would get run over by the old ladies with their shopping carts. People were so aggressive and I always thought I would never be an actor here because I don't get the vibe of why everyone is running everyone down all the time! I am very competitive but I didn't think I could hack it here.

Wow, your life would have been so different!

If an Equity card hadn't been handed to me so easily, this would have never happened. Acting would never have happened. I've had a lot of directing opportunities along the way. I was in the first cast of the first tour of LES MIS and I was the dance captain. I don't know how. There was no real dancing in LES MIS so the dance captain would basically just hang out with the stage manager and put everybody in. I think I put about 30 people into the show. I loved that, and they had heard that I was good at it. I got a phone call a few years later, now I was married and had a baby. The show was going strong with like 19 companies around the country. They were everywhere!

So I got a call from Cameron Mackintosh asking if I would come to the rehearsal studio. I was breast-feeding my baby when he called and I thought he was pulling a prank on me. I dropped the baby and ran down to rehearsal and he told me that they wanted me to be the supervisor for all of the US companies. Richard Jay Alexander had that job and he was stepping down. And I said, "You know what, if you had asked me to do it five or six years ago I probably would have said yes, but now I have a baby and I don't want to be on a plane all the time. And I'm actually enjoying acting!" At that point I was in HOW TO SUCCEED with Megan [Mullally] and Matthew [Broderick] and I was really settling into that career. I remember John [Caird] said, "Do you really think you can have a career as an actor? I mean, we think you're great, but we think you're a director. We want you to be in a leadership position."

That was one of those turning points for me where I thought about it and said, "Yeah! I do think I'm pretty good!" [Laughs] And I said no. I've had a couple of those opportunities where I think that my life would be totally different. If I had done that, I would have been into corporate leadership, where you maintain shows. And I would be directing much, much more. I think I went through the doors that were open and I was happy as a clam because I was stationary. It was easier than directing opera and easier than directing when you have to go all over the world. I was a New York actor. So it all worked out!

You've still done some directing here and there though, right?

Yes, I've shared my story with a lot of people. I've directed a musical at NAMFT called TROUBLE WITH DOUG. We're hoping to get a production of that going. It's a great piece by two writers from the NYU Musical Theatre Writing program. I directed a thing at Lyrics and Lyricists, and when I was just out of college I worked for Texas Opera Theatre, which was the touring company associated with Houston Grand Opera. For two years I flew down to Houston and created and wrote and made all of these shows that were taken all over Texas into the education system to do live opera and musicals for children.

My life has been so blessed with people showing up at the right time. It's been a very rich life.

How did this stint at Pace come about?

Amy Rogers, who is the head of the musical theatre program at Pace, is a former student and she asked if I wanted to be an Artist in Residence and direct THE LIGHT IN THE PIAZZA. I said, "I don't think so." And then I thought, "Well, CINDERELLA is gonna close in a little bit... why not?" So I left CINDERELLA and took a deep breath and moved on to this. It's been so rewarding. It's been one of the best experiences I've ever had.

What has it been like for you to revisit the material?

It's been great. I've been telling people that it's like seeing an old friend. It was so much a part of my life and will always be, I'm sure. When you live with that music and you hear it every night for years... it's like seeing an old friend and picking up where you left off. Part of it has been really challenging- to see the piece through their eyes and to help guide them to their own vision of it without saying, "It has to be done this way!" Of course, though trial and error of three different productions, I kinda know. I'm like "Well that's gonna be a train wreck in about 3 seconds!" But you have to let them find it themselves.

We did it in a flat proscenium in Chicago and a warm, embryonic space at the Intiman in Seattle and then a 3/4 thrust at Lincoln Center. Now this theatre at the Sheen Center is a hybrid. It's basically a proscenium space but with a round apron that extends. It's a combination of all three spaces! It's been tricky! The students have been so dedicated and have worked so hard. They really want to do their best work and I don't think they've ever worked quite so hard. I think that's been an eye-opener. Someone said to me once that the harder you work on PIAZZA, the more you find and the better your performances is. Whereas with some other shows, you can work really hard and it plateaus. I think it was our music director Matt Aument. There are shows where you work and work and work and it just stays the same. PIAZZA is a show that is very rewarding, because the more you think, and work, and dig, the richer and better it gets. That's what they're finding out.

Have you made any discoveries of revelation about the material just looking at it from a different standpoint?

I think the revelations have been more about the process. I thoroughly investigated the piece. I mean, every now and then they'll say they want to do something, and I'll say, "Well that's better than anything anyone ever did!" More than that though it's been about the process. What I'm REALLY learning is, "Oh, THAT'S why directors always say that to me!" [Laughs] That's why they get nervous! It's been more about turning the table and being able to empathize with the unbelievable directors that I've worked with, which has been the who's who of American Theatre. And the consistent feedback that I've gotten through the years... now I see.

In terms of the material though, it's been interesting to see how they've been able to solve things. The guy that plays 'Fabrizio' said to me very early on, "Do you think that Fabrizio knows that there's an issue. Does he know that there's something seriously wrong that can't be repaired?" I was not privy to those conversations with any of the Fabrizios, but I thought it was such an insightful question. I couldn't answer it for him but I told him that it was a great question that was worth investigating, because if he does, and he loves her bravery and who she is in spite of a handicap, then that changes the story. In the beginning they were asking questions about what I think but eventually I've gotten them to just go with what they think is right.

Originally, people were like, "Well, what's your concept?" And I was like, "To do the show?" [Laughs] I don't really have a concept. We're just gonna do it the best that we can.

PIAZZA was a big deal for you! I know that you were involved with it in the pre Broadway runs, and you of course won every major award for it in 2005. Looking back, how do you remember that time in your life?

It was a difficult time for me personally, just because of what was going on in my personal life. Actors always joke about Dr. Theatre. No matter what is happening in your life, when you walk across the threshold to the stage door you can leave all your stuff on the sidewalk and focus on something. This is the wonderful thing about theatre in general. You can pour whatever you're going through into your work and somehow find some understanding and reflect on what's going on in your life or in a friend's life. Ideally, that's what art does for everyone; lets us gain perspective.

It does bring back some really happy memories. It was an unbelievable process and I had such an amazing opportunity to work with some amazing theatre writers. I mean Craig Lucas and Adam Guettel...it doesn't get any better than that. Bart Sher and Jonathan Butterell and Ted Sperling! And all of the casts... Celia [Keenan-Bolger] and Kelli [O'Hara] and Matt [Morrison]. All of these people have become huge superstars and we all knew they would. WE all taught each other and we all supported each other. The piece really lends its self towards community building and collaboration. It brought back an exciting time professionally.

I know that you've been teaching for a while. Is it important to you?

When I started out in the business there wasn't anyone really mentoring me. This generation is so different. People will just email me or get my number and ask for a lesson. Or they wave to me at the stage door and say, "I really want to learn form you." I would never in a million years have done that! First of all, I was too terrified to talk to ANYONE. I was so stage-struck. Even after I was an actor professionally I would never! Plus, no one was terribly warm and fuzzy.

Young people are so open and such good listeners. They really want to know. When I did reach out to people who were older than me, I felt like I got smacked down. And I decided that I wasn't gonna be like that. That when I was older and someone needed help I would give them that. This business is hard enough without any kind of help, so if I have the opportunity to help someone, then I do. A lot of it is about not holding onto my secrets. If I find a way to do something that is easier then I tell everyone! I'm not a secret hoarder! [Laughs] A lot of people in my generation, the generation above us wouldn't share with us. They were very careful about sharing how they achieved their success. I do the exact opposite. Let's be clear, even if I told you my formula, it wouldn't guarantee your success anyway. I think it's inspiring to hear everyone's story though. If there was a book that told you how to be a successful actor then everyone would be doing it. There's not one way though.

It was announced last week that you're going to be starring in GIGI, and reuniting with Eric Schaeffer...

Yes, I love him!

Are you excited to get going with that?

I'm really excited! I'm really excited about Vanessa [Hudgens]. She's fantastic! She's really delightful in this role and she really blew me away during our workshop this past summer. It's going to be a great show and I'm so excited to be a part of it!

What's one piece of advice that you find yourself giving the most to the kids that you teach who dream of growing up and having a career like yours?

It's so easy to give up. It takes so much work to not give up. It's so much easier to say, "Well, I tried that." I always say to people: "Go to bed, get some sleep, get a good breakfast, take a deep breath, don't give up." You can't be afraid to work hard, because the hard work is what will bear the fruit that you want. The first few years are always the hardest because that's when the competition is insane. Then other people give up! So if you wait for them to give up, then you'll be left!

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Clark won Tony, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards for The Light in the Piazza. Her Broadway credits includeCinderella (Tony and Outer Critics Circle nominations), Sister Act (Tony, Drama Desk, and Outer Critics Circle nominations), The Snow Geese atManhattan Theatre Club, Titanic, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, Urinetown, Cabaret, Guys and Dolls, A Grand Night for Singing, Sunday in the Park With George. Encores!: Follies, Juno, Bye Bye Birdie. Off-Broadway: When The Rain Stops Falling (Drama Desk nomination), A Prayer for My Enemy, The Marriage of Bette and Boo, The Agony and the Agony, Marathon Dancing. Follies (LA). Film: Archeology of a Woman, Harvest, The Happening, Tickling Leo, Main Street, Cradle Will Rock. Television: "Law & Order," "Mercy," Ma Joad in "The Grapes of Wrath" at Carnegie Hall; frequent appearances with symphony orchestras, including New York Philharmonic. She is a Master Teacher in the US and abroad and is currently Artist-in-Residence for the Musical Theater program at Pace School of the Performing Arts, where she is currently directing The Light in the Piazza, opening October 29 at the Sheen Center. Board member: New York City Center and Kurt Weill Foundation.

The School of Performing Arts at Pace University is one of the most sought after undergraduate training destinations in the United States. Dedicated to providing the finest possible pre-professional education, our groundbreaking majors in Acting; Acting for Film, Television, Voice-Overs, and Commercials; Commercial Dance; Directing; Musical Theater; Production and Design; and Stage Management are re-imagining how to train young artists for today's industry. In addition, Pace's Dyson College of Arts & Sciences offers strong liberal arts curriculum that provides students with the rich educational experience that helps inform their professional development as artists, while giving students a deeper understanding of themselves and their world.

Tickets for The Light in the Piazza are available now through OvationTix.